Nematode/callamanus Scare

Hello! I've been doing a lot of research about Callamanus because I've just found out my fish caught it. I'll start by saying I have no clue how, I haven't added any fish to my aquarium in close to a year and I don't live feed or feed frozen.
The last thing added to my aquarium was a small piece of water sprite 3 months ago, and I asked him to go check all of his fish as soon as I noticed this issue and he says he sees nothing and all his fish still have their full color and look healthy.

I'm not sure if they could've traveled through my tap water (I really hope not..) and I genuinely have no clue where they could've come from. I see multiple solutions to it but I'm worried about cost, and how far gone my fish are. Is there an affordable way to treat this?
I've checked almost all my fish and I only see 2 bristlenose plecos with this issue, and my other fish still have their color, active, eating and look healthy. I assume I can save most if not all of them, I am wondering though with one pleco I have that has gone very pale sickly looking recently if it's too late for him, should his guts be this dark or is he filled with worms?

I've had these plecos for over a year, they've been healthy and bred by me
Edit: Would this help?



Thanks for any help in advance, such a horrible situation.

 

The info from Inkmaker [Charles] is the most accurate there is ..
Many are going to steer you to a loach site with different info that actually list Charles as ONE of its sources .
I would get your levamisole from Charles also ..
The Levamisole HCI will work ..

 

Yeah, I'd go with either Levamisole or Flubendazole, both can be dosed direct to the water column or in a medicated food mix. Fenbendazole, not to be confused, should only be added to the food, not the direct to the water column.

 

If you can’t get your Pleco to eat the Levimisole HCI flakes, or if you{re having trouble finding them in the first place, you can go to any small animal vet and get some Fenbendazole powder. They will probably only be able to measure it out in grams, and if you are not a regular client, may hesitate to sell it to you because they won’t know the dosage for fish. But, print out the article her in the link below, and take it with you to show them. It’s fine to use a whole gram in Ms Walstad’s recipe, as it takes a huge amount of Fenbendazole to overdose. Make the recipe, and see if your Pleco will eat some. I didn’t even wait for the first batch I made (when I had a similar emergency) to set up - I just swished a glob on the end of a toothpick in front of my fish, and it did eat a bit of the slurry. I thought he wouldn’t make it, but he did, and is doing great to this day.

 

What makes you think you have Camallanus? Have you seen worms protruding? Are they them in your plec picture? (hard to tell).

Camallanus is easy to treat. I always use Sterazin.

 

If you can’t get your Pleco to eat the Levimisole HCI flakes, or if you{re having trouble finding them in the first place, you can go to any small animal vet and get some Fenbendazole powder. They will probably only be able to measure it out in grams, and if you are not a regular client, may hesitate to sell it to you because they won’t know the dosage for fish. But, print out the article her in the link below, and take it with you to show them. It’s fine to use a whole gram in Ms Walstad’s recipe, as it takes a huge amount of Fenbendazole to overdose. Make the recipe, and see if your Pleco will eat some. I didn’t even wait for the first batch I made (when I had a similar emergency) to set up - I just swished a glob on the end of a toothpick in front of my fish, and it did eat a bit of the slurry. I thought he wouldn’t make it, but he did, and is doing great to this day.

Yah, Fenbendazole sells in 1 gallon packets under the name Panacur, it's a cheap dog dewormer, maybe op should just tell them it's for a dog so they don't look at them funny when they plan to use it in a way the vet (or at least most vets) knows absolutely nothing about lol.

 

Yah, Fenbendazole sells in 1 gallon packets under the name Panacur, it's a cheap dog dewormer, maybe op should just tell them it's for a dog so they don't look at them funny when they plan to use it in a way the vet (or at least most vets) knows absolutely nothing about lol.

If she has a cat or dog, then she should have no trouble getting some from her vet, as she would be an established client - but if she doesn’t have a vet she uses regularly, then it’s actually best to tell them it’s for fish. Otherwise they will ask her to bring at least a stool sample from her dog/cat, or maybe say that they would have to see the dog/cat first. You can buy Thomas Labs Fish Bendazole on Amazon, and it comes in handy 250mg packets, and if she’s a Prime member it might only take a couple days to get to her. But from the looks of the pix she posted, it would have been nice if she could have gotten some immediately to start treatment. Be cautious when buying Panacur (which is the common name for the wormer used to treat dogs, cats, horses, cows, sheep, etc.,), as it sometimes has added ingredients which would not be good for fish.

Soarin, please let us know how your fish is doing!

 

The info from Inkmaker [Charles] is the most accurate there is ..
Many are going to steer you to a loach site with different info that actually list Charles as ONE of its sources .
I would get your levamisole from Charles also ..
The Levamisole HCI will work ..

I agree 100% with Coralbandit. If you're sure it's camallanus, get the levamisole HCl and treat per Inkmaker's instructions. This will treat the entire tank. You don't have to worry about each fish eating medicated food etc. It will treat the entire water column / inhabitants and stop the camallanus cycle.

 

Sorry for the late response, I've just got the Levamisole HCI today and I've dosed my aquarium. I am positive it's Callamanus as I see 5-6 worms individually moving around outside my fish, I've notice not all my fish have it but it's only a matter of time. I think I've got it early enough that hopefully the fish that visibly have it will survive.

Thank you for all the advice and concerns, I will update this post when I see how it goes!

 

If you dose as per Charles directions, could you let us know how the fish react? Especially the plecos and inverts if they are in the tank?

coralbandit, where is Charles credited as a source? I see it references an article he wrote on using Flubendazole if one has trouble getting Levamisole HCI, but the info in the loaches site is per Dr. Yanong, an actual fish vet.

 

Would definitely like to hear Soarin 's experience with fish during treatment as well.

When I treated levamisol, my BN pleco was the only fish that didn't act any different. She didn't seemed phased at all. On the other hand, it stressed my Bolivian rams (the ones that actually had visible camallanus) as well as some zebra danios. The rams basically sat in a corner on the bottom under heavy cover and didn't eat at all during treatment. The danios hardly ate and were extremely jumpy. I had one nerite snail in the tank as well and it holed up somewhere as I didn't see it for a week. It came back out for a few days after the 1st treatment then disappeared again. I actually thought it may have bailed from the tank. I did the second treatment over the 4th of July break.

I rescaped a little bit this past weekend and found the nerite snail shell. Not sure if it was the levamisole or something else that did the nerite in.

Only loss through the ordeal was the nerite snail. All other fish survived and were back to their normal selves a day or two after the big water changes and adding in charcoal to remove any remaining levamisole.

ETA that both rams passed all the adult worms on the 1st treatment. I've been keeping a close eye on all the fish since and no sighs at all of camallanus at the moment...although the danios never slow down enough to get a good look.

 

If you dose as per Charles directions, could you let us know how the fish react? Especially the plecos and inverts if they are in the tank?

coralbandit, where is Charles credited as a source? I see it references an article he wrote on using Flubendazole if one has trouble getting Levamisole HCI, but the info in the loaches site is per Dr. Yanong, an actual fish vet.

Funny the bibliography for the article USED to be available ???? Now it seems 'lost error' !
I read the loach info once and was very glad I knew of Charles before hand . The lights out and much more info contained on loach site is smoke !
The Bibliography listed Charles initial article on Levamisole as a source of it's info ..Shame they translated it to their liking ???
IMO the loach info is suspect or atleast 'flavored' and changed to authors liking in compare to the facts I read written by a chemist [not a vet ] at best ??

 

Well for what it's worth, I don't think Levamisole is too dangerous at 13ppm, but from what I can see, it's not necessary. In any case, I don't mean any disrespect, just trying to figure it all out. Just saying I used 2 or 3ppm max 3 times and it worked for me and my fish didn't seem stressed at all. I wouldn't consider Levamisole safe for snails and other inverts, but my snails were fine at 2/3ppm dosing.

I read Levamisole excites. Maybe that why your fish were more jumpy. I suspect expelling worms wouldn't be the most fun thing in the world, so not really surprised the rams were sticking to the bottom and not eating. But IME, all my fish still ate during treatment. In fact, I laced their food with Epsom Salts to act as a laxative while they were being treated to help them expel the worms.

 

One of the reasons Levamisole is difficult to get nowadays is because it was used for so many years, with so many animals, that the worms were becoming resistant. I got my Levamisole from Subquaria, but then discovered that you can get it (much cheaper) from Tractor Supply. Yep, it seems that it still works pretty well for sheep and goats! I don’t regret getting the smallest packet from Subquaria because the dosing spoon and chart that comes with it is right for measuring for aquariums. I did want to keep this medication on hand, though, and I use it to soak my nets for my QT tank. Since it’s half life is short I can change the water for the nets and throw a scoop in several times a week if needed at the price and amount you can get from Tractor Supply.

 

I think the big difference between the 3ppm and the 13ppm treatment is that the higher dose is fatal for the worms. From my understanding, the lower doses just paralize the adults but still allows any offspring the adults expell to be viable. The tank I treated is a planted tank and I couldnt vacuum the substrate very well so I opted for the fatal dose on both treatments. My rams constantly pick at the sand in my tank and I figured I'd be doing it again in a few months if I didn't kill them.

I think it's something each individual needs to understand and choose the best one that fits their needs. If I was treating in a bare bottom quarantine tank, I may have went for the lesser dose. But, if all I lost was a nerite snail (if it even was the levamisole that killed it) it was definitely worth it IMO to have killled each and every one of the little devils.

 

The couple times I used levamisole HCI 100% from Charles I used 1 gram per 20 gallon without any issue .Left the lights on and did nothing special ..It worked and I lost no fish .
There was a thread on how to know who to trust ..I know I trust Charles ..Have for a long time and will when the time comes again if I need his specialty ..Loaches .com not at all but as mentioned I found Charles first ..There is a lot of 'stuff' printed online that too many people can never verify as true or not ..

 

I read the worms are paralyzed, hence die and decompose very quickly, like within 24-48 hours. Do two treatments to get second generation. Makes sense to me, but so does the other. But yeah, it's an individual choice. Agree, Charles would be a good place to source Levamisole.

 

I heard it is harder to find since it is being used to cut cocaine !
Crazy druggies !

 

I heard it is harder to find since it is being used to cut cocaine !
Crazy druggies !

That's why it causes excitement. Well 10 grams for 40$ isn't going too far!

 

I heard it is harder to find since it is being used to cut cocaine !
Crazy druggies !

Whisky Tango Foxtrot?